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P2v quick reference guide

I was speaking with a colleague about some work I’d been doing with a colleague about p2v (converting their physical servers to virtual machines).  In this case it was a mixture of Compaq and IBM servers running Windows 2003/2008 which they needed to migrate to virtual machines to reclaim data center space whilst the project to upgrade to Windows 2008/2012 was initiated. He asked how I approached the p2v process and I’ve made some notes below.

  • Check ILO/IMM works ok and that you know the local administrator password – for post conversion/roll back
  • Verify server health (nothing is alerting that might potentially stop the server from booting)
  • Delete temporary files if possible – c:\windows\temp and c:\temp also IIS logs/middleware logs
  • Defrag the hard drives beforehand – you don’t have too but it’s nice to do and shouldn’t take long
  • Set the hardware management agents and non essential services to manual
  • ipconfig /all >c:\ipconfig.txt – Captures networking information to a text file.
  • Download pspcleaner referenced here.

At this point some fundamentals of approach.  I always wanted to do the conversion in as few reboots as possible, so at a high level it’s the following:

Before P2V steps:

  1. Disable server monitoring including hardware monitors/backups
  2. Log on as local administrator (verifying password)
  3. Verify accessiblility of IMM/ILO (use online tools to reset password if required)
  4. Install VMware vCenter Converter Standalone
  5. Set HP/IBM hardware agents to manual
  6. Clear down space – log files/temporary files etc
  7. Using command prompt: ipconfig /all >c:\ipconfigbfc.txt
  8. Defrag server – defrag c: -a -v defrag d: -a -v
  9. Set the flag (converter-worker.xml) to ssl value = false
  10. Restart VMware services
  11. Run conversion

Conversion steps

  • Remove networks – we will add network cards later
  • Advanced Options – Select power on destination machine
  • Advanced Options – Select install Vmware Tools on the destination virtual machine
  • On completion of the P2V shut down the physical server and start a ping against primary network card

Post conversion steps

  • Log in to the server locally using administrator account
  • Say no to the message apply settings and reboot
  • In vSphere system settings add network card(s) and remove audio/usb
  • Select edit settings and options, click VMware tools now click enable ‘Check and upgrade VMtools during power cycle’
  • Click ok and shut down the virtual machines
  • Power on the server – if VMware tools is out of date the server will boot, install VMware tools and reboot.
  • Run PSPCleaner to uninstall the HP agents/software
  • In a command window run:
    • set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1
    • devmgmt.msc
  • Uninstall hidden devices
  • If you see hpetdev_v.dll – high precision event timer identifier is needed, click cancel, look for unknown devices in system devices, right click and select update driver, install from a list or specific location, click next and don’t search select High Precision Event Timer
  • If you get any obscure errors from Compaq/HP agents – it’s the wbem key you want to examine: current control set services wbem
  • Remove network cards and let them reinstall
  • Configure IP address(es)
  • Clear event logs
    • You can do it with this command:
      • wmic nteventlog where filename=’SysEvent’ cleareventlog
      • wmic nteventlog where filename=’AppEvent’ cleareventlog
    • This means when the server comes up any alerts can be investigated

The server should now be accessible from the network and ready for verification.

The script below does a lot of the service stopping and creates text files for route, IP and page file size. Just copy it into a text file and save as .cmd

@echo off
echo Pre-Checks and Virtualisation process script
echo Stopping services and changing startup to manual
echo.
wmic pagefileset list >c:\temp\pagefile_bfp2v.txt
echo.
echo Set Compaq/HP services startup to manual (if they exist)
echo.
route print >C:\temp\routeprint.txt
sc config cqmghost start= demand
sc config cpqnicmgmt start= demand
sc config cqmgserv start= demand
sc config ProLiantMonitor start= demand
sc config cqmgstor start= demand
sc config cpqrcmc start= demand
sc config cpqRCMc3 start= demand
sc config sysdown start= demand
sc config cissesrv start= demand
sc config sysmgmthp start= demand
sc config cpqvcagent start= demand
echo.
echo Set Emulex, IIS & Cluster services to manual (if they exist)
echo.
sc config “hbsa service” start= demand
sc config hpwmistor start= demand
sc config iisadmin start= demand
sc config w3svc start= demand
sc config cluster start= demand
echo.
echo Stopping IBM services if they exist (ignore erorrs)
sc config “ati hotkey poller” start= demand
sc config tier1slp start= demand
sc config wmicimserver start= demand
sc config cimlistener start= demand
sc config twgipc start= demand
sc config ibmsa start= demand
net stop tier1slp
net stop cimlistener
net stop wmicimserver
net stop twgipc
net stop ibmsa
echo.
cls
echo Deleting temporary files and Patrol history
echo.
erase “C:\Program Files\IBM\Director\log\”*.* /q
erase “C:\Program Files\IBM\Director\data\”esntevt.dat /q
rd C:\WINDOWS\Temp /s /q
md c:\windows\temp
echo.
echo Copy HP ILO uninstall vbs/HP WMI vbs script
cd\
cd temp
md compaqfolder
cd compaqfolder
copy c:\cpqsystem\uninstall\*.* /y
pause
cls
echo.
echo.
echo
echo Performing defragmentation of C, D and E drives, please be patient
echo.
echo Performing defragmentation of D: drive
echo.
defrag d: -f -v
echo Performing defragmentation of C: drive
echo.
defrag c: -f -v
echo Performing defragmentation of E: drive
echo.
defrag e: -f -v
echo.
cls
ipconfig /all >c:\temp\ipconfig.txt
netsh interface ip show config >c:\temp\netsh.txt
echo Command finished. Please run the VMware vCenter Converter Standalone Client tool.
pause
echo.

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